Various types of computer programs or “software”, such as operating systems, applications and middleware, are currently known. The software executes on a computer, or a logical partition (“LPAR”) of a computer. Software is typically licensed, not sold, and the licensee fees may be ongoing such as monthly or yearly. The license fees may be based in part on the type of the computer in which the software in installed. For example, the license fee for a computer program may be based on the power of the processor(s) within the computer. In such licenses, typically the greater the power of the processor, the greater the license fee. The theory behind such licenses is that the license fee should be commensurate with the capacity of the application to perform work for the enterprise, and this capacity is based in part on the power of the processor.
Occasionally, there exists a need to upgrade a processor within a current computer or replace the current computer altogether with a new computer with a more powerful processor. For example, if there are increased demands for one or more of the computer programs, then it may be necessary to upgrade the power of the processor on which the computer program executes. The existing software license may be limited to a specified power of a processor used to execute the computer programs. In such a case, the existing license may not be adequate to cover the computer programs when executed with the higher processing power of the upgraded (i.e. outfitted with a more power processor or replaced altogether with a new, more powerful computer).
If the increase in license fees for the computer upgrade are not specified in the current software license, the licensee may want to estimate these fees before the computer is upgraded. This may be a factor in deciding whether to upgrade the computer, or take some other remedial action, such as to locate one or more of the computer programs to another, underutilized computer.
An object of the present invention is to automatically estimate the increase in license fees when a computer on which a computer program is installed is upgraded with a more powerful processor.
Another object of the present invention is to recommend an alternate course of action if it is too expensive to execute all the computer programs, that are currently executing on the current computer, on the upgraded computer.